Australia commits to tail-docking ban

June 1, 2003 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2003:

BRISBANE, Australia–Five of the seven Australian states are
reportedly committed to introducing a national ban on docking dogs’
tails by June 30, 2003, to take effect on December 1.
“New South Wales and the Northern Territory requested more
time to consider joining the ban,” reported Larizza Dubecki of the
Melbourne Age. “The decision [to ban tail-docking] was made at the
April 10 Primary Industries Ministerial Council in Brisbane,
supported by the Royal SPCA and the Australian Veterinary Association.
The AVA first called for a ban on tail-docking in 1998, six
years after the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons in Britain and
five years after the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association, but
Australia is the first English-speaking nation to commit to a ban.
Rare outside English-speaking nations, tail-docking is done
primarily to comply with breed standards established in England by
the Kennel Club during the 19th century, later adopted by the
American Kennel Club and other kennel associations.

U.S. Supreme Court rules that states may prosecute fraudulent fundraisers

June 1, 2003 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2003:

WASHINGTON D.C., LOS ANGELES, SACRAMENTO–The U.S. Supreme
Court on May 5 ruled unanimously that states may prosecute charities
and hired fundraisers for fraud if they misrepresent how donations
will be used.
The case, “Madigan v. Telemarket-ing Associates,” concerned
the effort of Illinois attorney general Lisa Madigan to prosecute a
firm that solicted funds for VietNow, a charity formed to aid
Vietnam veterans.
Summarized Associated Press, “The state claimed would-be donors were
told their money would go for food baskets, job training and other
services for needy veterans, even though Telemarketing Associates
pocketed 85% of the take. One woman said she was told, ‘90% or more
goes to the vets.’ The ruling makes clear that while fundraisers may
keep quiet about the high costs of running a charity drive, they may
not lie about it.”

Locke vetoes Washington trap ban repeal & other state legislative highlights

June 1, 2003 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2003:

Three of the biggest wins for animals during spring 2003
legislative sessions were the defeat of anti-animal bills in
Washington, Texas, and California.
Washington Governor Gary Locke on May 22 vetoed a repeal of
Initative 713, banning the use of body-gripping traps. The
initiative was approved in November 2000 by 55% of the electorate.
It was vulnerable in the legislature because support was concentrated
along the heavily populated eastern shore of Puget Sound, which is
proportionally underrepresented in both the state house and senate
relative to rural districts.
Despite vetoing the repeal bill, Locke asked the state
Department of Fish and Wildlife to “place limited enforcement
resources into higher-order priorities than against homeowners,
businesses, and the timber industry, that trap for moles, gophers,
and mountain beavers.”

Charities sue over slogans and similar names

June 1, 2003 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2003:

SAN FRANCISCO–Alleging “trademark infringement, unfair
competition, and related claims arising from the unauthorized use”
of the phrase “Don’t breed or buy while homeless animals die,” the
International Society for Animal Rights on April 29, 2003 sued In
Defense of Animals in U.S. District Court.
ISAR trademarked the phrase in January 2001, the suit
states, objecting that “IDA has incorporated the confusingly similar
slogan ‘Please don’t breed or buy while millions of homeless animals
die’ into posters, flyers, and other products featuring gruesome
images of dead and/or dying pets.” ISAR contends that this confuses
“prospective and actual donors and members about a perceived
relationship between the organizations.”

Legal action against ocean fishing

May 1, 2003 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2003:

U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson on April 10 held for
the fourth time in 13 years that 1988 amendments to the 1972 Marine
Mammal Protection Act oblige the U.S. to exclude imports of tuna
netted “on dolphin,” a method often used by foreign fleets because
dolphins and tuna feed on the same fish species and often swim
together. Surrounding feeding dolphins with nets therefore usually
captures tuna–as well as dolphins who do not escape before the nets
close. Henderson in May 1990 banned imports of yellowfin tuna from
Mexico, Venezuela, and Vanuatu. After Congress reinforced the 1990
verdict by introducing “dolphin-safe” labeling, Henderson in January
1992 banned $266 million worth of tuna imports from 30 nations. A
General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs panel in 1995 ruled that the
U.S. “dolphin safe” law is an improper trade barrier. The law was
eased by the 1997 International Dolphin Conservation Program Act,
but Henderson and U.S. Court of International Trade judge Judith
Barzilay issued conflicting verdicts when then-Commerce Secretary
William Daley tried to admit non-“dolphin-safe” tuna to the U.S. In
December 2002 the Commerce Department moved to allow U.S. firms to
market tuna netted “on dolphin” as “dolphin-safe,” if no dolphins
are known to have been killed during the netting, but Henderson
ruled that the 1990 definition of “dolphin-safe” must stand unless
the law is changed.

Dutch assassin gets 18 years

May 1, 2003 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2003:

AMSTERDAM–Volkert van der Graaf, 33, who confessed to
killing anti-immigration and pro-fur politician Pim Fortuyn on May 6,
2002, in the first Dutch political assassination since World War II,
was on April 14 sentenced to serve 18 years in prison.
Seeking a life sentence, the prosecution said it would appeal.
Likening the assassination to shooting Adolph Hitler before
he could rise to power, van der Graaf testified that he shot Fortuyn,
54, because he was “a threat to weaker groups in society,”
including asylum-seekers, Muslims, the disabled, and animals.
Fortuyn’s political party, named for himself, gained a substantial
sympathy vote in the first election following the assassination, but
soon self-destructed due to factionalism and fell out of the
governing coalition in late 2002.
Founding the organization Environmental Offensive in 1992,
the militantly vegan van der Graaf “before the assassination worked
up to 80 hours a week litigating against commercial animal farming,
and was described by other activists as a fanatic,” wrote Toby
Sterling of Associated Press.
If van der Graaf is not re-sentenced to prison for life, he
is expected to be eligible for parole in 2014. Dutch courts have
sentenced only 21 people to prison for life since 1945, most of them
serial killers.

Europe
Law

Embezzling in Germany

May 1, 2003 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2003:

MUNICH–Wolfgang Ullrich, 58, head of the 230,000-member
German animal welfare society Deutsches Tierhilfswerk 1994-1999, was
on April 1, 2003 sentenced to 12 years in prison for embezzling $28
million.
Reported Reuters, “Thai police first arrested Ullrich, who
ran a restaurant in the resort of Pattaya, after investigating him
for tax evasion. Subsequent probes into his finances uncovered a
front company Ullrich had set up in Switzerland, into which he
channeled donations from animal lovers.”
Deutsches Tierhilfswerk is now expected to sue seeking
recovery of the money.

Europe
Law

Can a third grader identify a third-rate circus? Courts weigh activist rights

May 1, 2003 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2003:

SCRANTON, Pa.–A three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Third Circuit on April 15 unanimously upheld the
dismissal of a lawsuit against the Lacka-wanna Trail School District
in Scranton, Pennsylvania, alleging that Amanda Walker-Serrano,
then a third grader, was denied her First Amendment right to freedom
of expression in February 1999 when her school stopped her from
petitioning against a class trip to the Shriners’ circus in
Wilkes-Barre.
Amanda Walker-Serrano is the daughter of Scranton animal
advocates Lisa Walker and Michael Serrano. Her rights were not
violated, Judge Anthony J. Scirica wrote, because she was allowed
to distribute coloring books and stickers about animal abuse.
“Absent punishment for expression, a significant pattern of
concrete suppression, or some other form of clear suppression of the
expression of elementary school students, a federal First Amendment
action is not an appropriate forum for resolution of disputes over
schools’ control of third graders’ conduct,” opined Scirica.
Circuit Judge Morton I. Greenberg wrote, “I think it is
unlikely that the third-grade children here could have had knowledge
of how a circus treats its animals. After all, I have no such
knowledge myself.”

McDonald’s lawsuit award still in dispute

May 1, 2003 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2003:

CHICAGO–Cook County Judge Richard Siebel on March 25
disqualified three of the 26 organizations that were named to share
the $10 million settlement of a class action brought against
McDonald’s Corp. for concealing from vegetarians that its French
fries are seasoned with beef broth.
Dropped due to alleged conflicts of interest involving
attorneys who worked on the case were the National Ramah Commission,
representing Conservative Jews; Arya Pratinidhi Sabha America, a
Hindu group; and the Department of Nutrition at the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Whether new organizations will be named to replace these
three is reportedly undecided. Plaintiffs opposed to the settlement
indicated that they would appeal.

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